[Report 1955] / Medical Officer of Health, Torquay Borough.

  • Torquay (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1955
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1955] / Medical Officer of Health, Torquay Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/88 (page 3)
    St. Marychurch Town Hall, Torquay. To the Worshipful the Mayor and to the Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of Torquay. Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for the year 1955, which is detailed in form and sequence in accordance with the instructions of the Minister of Health. The year under review is the tenth consecutive complete calendar year since the end of the Second World War; and it there¬ fore seems opportune and appropriate to compare some of the vital statistics of this period, 1946-55, inclusive, with those of the ten complete years, 1929-38, inclusive, immediately preceding the war. A more detailed account is given in the body of this report, but in general it can be said that the falling trend of the total mortality ratio and of the infant mortality rate has remained satisfactory in relation to the national trend; although after the war, while the ratios are appreciably lower, the decline is slower, and the Borough rates are closer to the national figures than formerly. An analysis of the ages at which death occurs shows that there has been a greater improvement in the mortality among the younger age-groups, in which the chief causes of death have yielded more readily to preven¬ tive measures than have the degenerative processes of ageing in later life. The comparison of notifications shows the abolition of diphtheria and a considerable decline in most of the other diseases which w~ere notifiable both before and after the war. During the year, measles was epidemic, but this disease is much less serious than formerly, and complicated cases were infre¬ quent; poliomyelitis was more prevalent throughout the country generally, but the incidence in the Borough remained low. A small outbreak of food poisoning is a reminder that safety depends on adequate facilities and on the strictest observance of personal hygiene and careful work by everyone in the trade; and these factors are of paramount importance in a resort with so many cater¬ ing establishments. The substantial post-war programme of new council houses has now been completed, and the number of all council dwellings (15 per cent.) in relation to the total residential properties in the town shows a very creditable proportion and record of work. The list of applicants for council tenancies is now comparatively small and should be virtually eliminated with the usual removal of exist¬ ing tenants over a reasonable period of time. The greater difficulty still remains of reconditioning the older sub-standard properties